First night on the big girls’ roost for my Mother’s Day Brahma chicks! I ordered five chicks from Mt. Healthy Hatcheries. They hatched on Mother’s Day and arrived the next day. I sneaked them under my broody Speckled Sussex, Dottie without any problems and she’s done a great job raising them.
Momma Dottie has pretty much kicked them to the curb except for Cupcake who is allowed to sneak under Dot’s wing for a few minutes on the roost. The girls are integrated into the flock already and eat, drink, free range and now sleep with the seven adult hens. It’s hard for me to watch, but they are learning their place in the greater pecking order.
I switched the whole flock over to unmedicated chick starter/grower feed when the Littles arrived. The Bigs always have free choice oyster shell, so it was not a big deal for them. Since the Littles are all Brahmas, I plan to keep the whole flock on grower chow through the summer months and gradually switch everyone over to an all-flock chow early in the winter or whenever the Littles start laying.
They‘re growing like weeds and are all just too stinking cute! Ginger, the lone buff Brahma, is the alpha amongst the Littles, and Mary, the larger dark Brahma, is incredibly chill. Dale, the other dark Brahma, still cries for Dottie, but calms down if she can hop on me. The two light Brahmas, Cupcake and Deuce, are sooooooo curious and active, but they also love to snuggle. (Really, Ginger is the only one who doesn’t like to be picked up and rarely sits on my lap.) I can’t wait to see them grow up!
Momma Dottie has pretty much kicked them to the curb except for Cupcake who is allowed to sneak under Dot’s wing for a few minutes on the roost. The girls are integrated into the flock already and eat, drink, free range and now sleep with the seven adult hens. It’s hard for me to watch, but they are learning their place in the greater pecking order.
I switched the whole flock over to unmedicated chick starter/grower feed when the Littles arrived. The Bigs always have free choice oyster shell, so it was not a big deal for them. Since the Littles are all Brahmas, I plan to keep the whole flock on grower chow through the summer months and gradually switch everyone over to an all-flock chow early in the winter or whenever the Littles start laying.
They‘re growing like weeds and are all just too stinking cute! Ginger, the lone buff Brahma, is the alpha amongst the Littles, and Mary, the larger dark Brahma, is incredibly chill. Dale, the other dark Brahma, still cries for Dottie, but calms down if she can hop on me. The two light Brahmas, Cupcake and Deuce, are sooooooo curious and active, but they also love to snuggle. (Really, Ginger is the only one who doesn’t like to be picked up and rarely sits on my lap.) I can’t wait to see them grow up!
